I don't necessarily miss the check-in stations but feel that they should regulate the pins because you're exactly right, it means something to many of us and there are many people out there who grab a handful and didn't even hunt. They should make it so that they send one either after you've checked the animal in or they send one with your permit. I have one in my collection (2013) that has a zero written on the back, I have others with 2-3 written depending on how many deer I harvested (between shotgun and muzzleloader) because I didn't want to take more than one. I am missing two for years that I harvested deer but I haven't found many places to purchase them that aren't outrageous. You can go on ebay and find them all day, probably from those people who grabbed handfuls at their local Walmart, etc., and are now making a profit on them. Just my $0.02.